


Irradiance

by Sol (HaloAlpaca)



Series: Flare [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Adventure, Death, Dragons, Elemental Magics, Elves, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Love Triangles, Magic, Mystery, Original Character(s), Portals, Stalking, Warlocks, Witches, fantasy worlds, small town
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:42:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26337412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaloAlpaca/pseuds/Sol
Summary: No one had expected the first family gathering in 10 years to be a funeral. They grew further apart until just as he was sending the invitation he had remembered the last time they all spoke. The matriarch of the family had passed and the job of gathering all the relatives was left to him. He just looked down at the black envelopes scattered along the cold floor. It was expected that she would have passed soon anyways but it still shocked him to the core. Although he had heard rumors of disappearances within the family he hoped that they would all gather at least this once to honor their matriarch.
Series: Flare [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1913833





	1. Introduction

No one had expected the first family gathering in 10 years to be a funeral. They grew further apart until just as he was sending the invitation he had remembered the last time they all spoke. The matriarch of the family had passed and the job of gathering all the relatives was left to him. He just looked down at the black envelopes scattered along the cold floor. It was expected that she would have passed soon anyways but it still shocked him to the core. Although he had heard rumors of disappearances within the family he hoped that they would all gather at least this once to honor their matriarch.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you C for the Beta  
> Here's the first chapter to Irradiance I hope you all enjoy

Her vision was blocked by her hair, flowing violently through the wind. She looked along with the small garden out over the cliffside. Salty sprays of water wash up along the edge barely visible from the fog. Energy thrummed through the air to a point where she could've almost pulled on it. The manor behind her stood tall rising from the rocky cliffs of the edge of the little seaside town. The thunder echoed out after lightning struck in the forest near the manor. She whipped her head around, gaining her bearings. She remembered that as a child, she would run around the garden with her cousins with the sun beaming down on them casting long shadows across the grass. Her grandmother always watched over them when their parents had to go away. 

She would often stay at her grandparents' place as her parents would go off to different jobs around the world while she would be left behind with her cousins as their parents did the same, always disappearing to all corners of the globe. She never knew what they did, but when they came back, they often would be bruised and at times bloody; but they always had a smile on their face to greet her. In her teenage years she at times resented them for it, but when they had revealed the truth about their family to her at 16; she could not bring herself to feel that way anymore. The energy surrounding their family was explained with one simple word, Magic. When she was a year away from coming to her Majority, all of her family’s secrets were revealed to her along with the start of her training. She still went to high school like any normal teen, but afterwards, she would train for hours on end for her Majority ceremony. She would be assigned a role in the Inacrea community, and while you do not need to follow that assignment, It is all but tradition to see it through. Assignment assesses a mage’s magical core and what form of magic it resonates with. It could range from things like crafting magical items to joining the Guards of Aseanora. While most families do not have exact specialties like the Griffith family did. They historically were mostly Defenders, a branch of guards with extremely powerful magic that hunt down threats surrounding the portal to Aseanora located around the world. Although her parents said that it didn't matter what she was going to be assigned, she knew that she wanted to help their world like her parents did.

When her assignment came, she was, like expected, assigned to be a Defender. As she wrapped up her studies, she would go on missions with the rest of her family, acting as support. But when she got into college, she decided to stop going on missions to focus on her studies. Once she had finished her studies, she would go to work in the human world while continuing to attend missions. At least that's what she had planned, an incident had occurred on a mission that she was supposed to go on. She had been logged on as one of the supports on a mission but had stayed at school instead to focus on her exams. In her place, one of the new defenders went instead. The mission went wrong and the support passed away and her parents went missing. She could still remember the exhausted forms of her aunt and uncle collapsing on her doorstep, covered in dirt and splattered with blood. The sight etched itself into her memory, her aunt's piercing grey eyes blown wide as she told her what had happened.

Lunari woke in a cold sweat, those eyes still burned in her vision. She wiped her arm across her forehead and turned over to the nightstand to look at the blinking red light on her clock. 4:30. She knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so she pulled herself out of the cover of her sheets and changed into workout clothes to go for a run. Walking out of her room, she made her way out of the apartment complex. It had only been a day since her aunt and uncle had been dumped at her door. That same day, she had cast a teleportation spell using what spare materials she had to open a short portal to bring them to their family home. Closing the portal after they all passed through, she buried herself in her bed, sobbing until Celia had come to check on her. Celia held her for the rest of the day, careful not to mention how her boyfriend, Cody, didn’t even bother to call her when she had missed the class they shared. Trying to turn away from those thoughts, she looked back down at her phone and realized that she had missed calls from her uncle. Garn was her mother’s older brother and was taking care of the family home after her grandma passed away only a week ago. We were all supposed to gather at the family home for her passing ceremony in just 4 days.

Just a few days ago, Celia had told her that Cody had been asking around for places to buy rings from, but now he was acting so distant. Nevermind that, she shouldn’t even be thinking about that at a time like this. He sometimes seems so uncaring and distant. She could never really know what is going on inside his head. Finding excuses for his behavior had been an almost constant thing but she just brushed it off. He didn’t feel like “The One,” but he treated her well. Most magical species in their world had destined pairings and while those pairings may not be perfect, the Inacarea didn’t. The species of magicians to whom her family belonged to had always stood out from the rest of the species; having to pick and choose who they want to spend their lives with.

Marriage was something she never really thought about. Getting married did not seem all too bad, the thought of having someone to swear her life to and vice versa actually made her feel warm. Cody just didn’t seem like the type to settle like that, he is always so distant and drifts from place to place, moving around the country often. He simply couldn’t stay still. She felt like she was being dragged around whenever Cody suggested they travel or go on road trips and such. Over the four years they had been together, they kept traveling around the area, and whenever they had a break from school or work, Cody would travel, even without her. Although she had been chosen as one of the Defenders, she still wanted a place to call home, she still wanted to settle down somewhere. A place that stayed the same no matter how long she left it for, something like what the family manor was to her. The work didn't give much in terms of money either, she knew that only the most prestigious Defenders could even fathom making a living off of the job. With missions few and far between, her parents who were some of the best in the world still chose to run a small shop on the side.Their small store didn’t get much foot traffic, but it catered to many other Inacarea by selling magical items along with some conduits.

When she went off to college, she started working as a shop clerk in a flower shop off of one of the main roads in her city before, and while it had many more customers than her family shop in their small town, it wasn’t like the hustle and bustle of the main street shops. She was happy that she had a steady job and the store’s owners gave her room to design the storefront. She mostly helped about the shop and would come to help if any of the other clerks had to bail. It calmed her to organize the flowers around the shops and to help out around the shop. Thinking back on life so far, she knew she couldn’t just sit around wallowing in self-pity. She stepped out of her apartment to face the cool and crisp air of spring, raindrops clung onto the leaves of the bushes lining the pavement and droplets shook off the trees when the wind blew. Trudging through the light rain that started not long ago making her way down the block. Despite knowing that it might not be the best idea to go to work, she still continued walking down the familiar streets to the flower shop anyway She needed a distraction.

Reaching the store, she headed around to the staff entrance at the side of the building. The door unlocked with a click and Lunari went to clock in for her shift while discarding her jacket in the staff room. Her boss, Beth, smiled in her direction and continued adjusting the bouquet. Beth was a sweet old lady who always helped the shop out in any way she could. She would set up the window front and open up every day. She would also scamper around helping customers who come in and also help design and make many of the premade bouquets they would sell on that day. Lunari got straight to work but with the rain, not many customers were at the shop at all. That left her with much time to contemplate what had happened these past few days.

Closing her eyes, she leaned back on the chair behind the counter. She knew that the bell would sound if any customers came in. Leaning over onto the desk in front of her, she thought about what she should be doing. If she had made the choice to go on that mission, where would she be right now? Would she be safe and sound with her parents? Would she be with them, missing, or would she just be dead? Who would even notice, Celia would have, they were too close to be MIA for too long but that's not to say that Cody would have noticed. He had not even called even after not seeing each other for a few weeks. She knew that he was busy but it seemed like he just forgot about her. She pushed the thoughts out of her mind when she heard the bell to the storefront ring. Looking up, she saw a man dressed head to toe in black, from his soaked trench coat to the large black boots he towered over her. As soon as he entered the shop, a gust of wind blew in, scattering the wrappings laid out on their tables. His frame was large and he had to duck to avoid the hanging plant in the doorway. She made her way to where he was standing to greet him.

“Hi, What are you looking for today?” she asked, walking up to the man. “We sell premade bouquets and also take orders for custom ones.”

He looked up from the lilies he was looking at to smile. “Do you sell individual flowers?” he questioned, the way he spoke made her uneasy but she just ignored it.

“We can, if you want a lily just choose one, it's fine, they aren’t very popular now anyway,” she said, turning away from the man. Not long after, she heard the bell ring so she spun around thinking that the man left. Instead, she saw a short lady enter with the man nowhere to be seen. She went over to the lady to greet her and asked what she wanted. After the man had left no one of notice came into the shop and most of the day was spent staring out the window to the rain still falling. 

Hours after they had last seen each other she met Celia at a small diner near Celia’s dorm. The storm got worse as the day drew on and they could hear the thunder strike every so often. Each holding a hot cup of coffee and making small talk Lunari started spacing out eyes tracking the drops of water running down the window. Celia had a muted expression on her face and her words flattered when she tried to bring up what had happened earlier. Lunari just gave her a soft smile and said not to worry, she would be fine. But in her mind she knew she was lying, she knew that what she wanted to do most was break down. She felt tired and the coffee didn’t seem to help her. The steaming hot food was delivered in front of them and the waitress gave them a bright smile contrasting to the gloomy environment outside. They quickly dug into the food in front of them as she was lost in her own thoughts. Lunari quickly finished her food, not carefully savoring each bite like she usually does. She just sat in silence while Celia finished her food. She stood up after Celia started to pack up her stuff and offered to foot the bill. They stepped out onto the streetside, briskly walking trying to get out the cold as fast as they could.

Making their way the Lunari’s home she fumbled with the keys and dropped them while reaching to pull them out of her bag. Kneeling down to grab them off the floor and shaking some of the rain off of her coat she unlocked her door and let Celia in after her. Celia asked her if she could crash at her place and Lunari just gave a quick nod moving towards the bathroom. Staring up at the mirror she saw how sunken in her eye were, looking like a dead man walking she washed up and again stood up at the mirror. Her own eyes were haunting her vision, the same eyes that her aunt had when she showed up a haunting image grey eyes piercing through her soul. After cleaning up she headed straight to her room and sat on the edge of her bed. Collapsing down onto her back she stared up to the ceiling to look at the many glowing stars that were stuck on it. She slowly sunk back into the bad and tucked herself under her covers to get comfortable falling into darkness.


End file.
